On this day - 16 November

Division One, Griffin Park

Sunderland 5 (2) Gurney (2) Duns Carter Gallacher
Brentford 1 (1) Hopkins

Sunderland: Thorpe, Morrison, Hall, Thomson, Clark, Hastings, Duns, Carter, Gurney, Gallacher, Connor

Attendance: 24,720

League Position after match: 1st

Our first ever game at Griffin Park, and one that ended a run of 13 League games in London without a win, in quite spectacular fashion.

Charles Buchan, now well-established as a sports reporter, waxed lyrical about the standard of our play, and declared that we were definitely the top team in the country and well-deserving of a sixth League Championship.

Buchan was sure not only that we would win the league, but that the 23 years we had gone since our previous title wouldn’t be repeated with play of the quality we displayed that day. Just goes to show.

Division One, White Hart Lane

Sunderland 1 (1) Hughes
Tottenham 5 (2) Greaves (4) England

Sunderland: Montgomery, Irwin, Harvey (Porterfield), Hurley, Todd, Palmer, Herd, Harris, Hughes, Suggett, Mulhall

Attendance: 29,072

League Position after match: 15th

Less than a month after losing 0-8 at Upton Park, this can’t have been a particularly enjoyable season for early members of the London Branch.

Jimmy Greaves rather enjoyed himself against Charlie, who was coming to the end of an illustrious career but, in truth, was by this time being supported massively by a young Colin Todd.

Division Two, Craven Cottage

Sunderland 3 (3) Moore og 6, Robson 7 12
Fulham 1 (0) Mullery

Sunderland: Montgomery, Malone, Guthrie, Moncur, Watson, Porterfield, Kerr, Hughes, Halom, Robson, Towers (sub not used: Ashurst)

Attendance: 14,193

League Position after match: 2nd

Alan Mullery scored at the right end this season, but it was a consolation effort after we had stormed into an unassailable lead early on, helped by a magnificent own goal from Bobby Moore.

This win put us second, but still 6 points behind Man Yew, who were our next away opponents, a game televised on Match of the Day and still heralded as a classic (which we lost 2-3).

Premiership, White Hart Lane

Sunderland 0 (0)
Tottenham 2 (1) Sinton 13 Sheringham 82

Sunderland: Perez, Kubicki, Scott, Bracewell, Ball, Melville, Gray (Smith), Hall (Rae), Stewart, Bridges (Russell), Kelly (subs not used: Agnew, Preece)

Attendance: 31,867

League Position after match: 16th

Paul Stewart was sent off for the second game in succession in London, possibly with more justification than at Highbury.

Though we huffed and puffed, a win was never really on the cards once we had gone behind, and a late second made it a dismal trudge back up the Seven Sisters Road.